Mechanical mixer and drier



H. H. BUBAR AND C. J. BEUST.

MECHANICAL MIXER AND DRIER.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. I5, 1918. RENEWED MAY 24, 1920.

1,344,675. Patented June 29, 192

UNITED STATES PATENT orFlcE.

HUDSON H. BUBAR AND CECIL J'. BEU ST, 0F BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 29, 1920.

Application filed March 15, 1918, Serial No. 222,618. Renewed May 24, 1920. Serial No. 383,927.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, HUDSON H. BUBAR,

a citizen of the United States, and resident mixing substances or drying them, or per-- forming both operations. at the same time.

The improved apparatus comprises a container with feeding devices located therein,

said feeding devices being of novel construction and'arrangement and includmg a central feeder and lateral feeders on each side thereof,-'said feeding devices being of a type proper for the purpose of the particular operation intended, that is to say, either mixing or drying, or mixing and dryin at the same time.

ithout desiring to restrict ourselves to the particular embodiment of our invention illustrated, we have shown-in the accompanying drawings a form of our invention which is adapted for the simultaneous mixing and drying of the material under treatment.

In said drawings,

Figure 1 is a plan view of the apparatus,

with part of the cover broken away, and- F Fig. 2 is a cross section on line 3-3 of The container or tank in which the material is mixed or dried, or mixed and dried, may be of any suitable shape as long as it conforms to certain characteristics hereinafter pointed out, with reference-to the feeding devices. The container shown in the drawingsis of substantially rectangular shape in plan view. Insome cases the operations are conducted at atmospheric pres'.

sure, in which event the interior of the container would communicate with the surrounding air, b leaving the top of the container. open. 11 other cases, it may be de sired to conduct the operation under ex-- clusion of air, or under pressure, or under a vacuum, and in such casesthe container would be closed to the surrounding air by means of an air tightcover 1 secured re movably by bolts 01' in any other suitable Within the lower portio of the container 7 we arrange the central feeding device 5 and the lateraLfeeding devices 5, which, in the particular construction shown, consist of blades of the propeller type secured on parallel horizontal shafts 6 and 6' respectively,

extending longitudinally within the container and supported in suitable bearings 7 and 7'. Preferably, each of the propellers or feeding devices. has only one blade in the same plane of rotation, that is to say,

each'of-its blades in a different plane of rotation. The shafts. 6., 6' are geared together at 8, 8', so that the central shaft will rotate in the opposite direction to the lateral shafts, and it will be understood that the blades of the several feeding devicesare so located as always to clear each other during the rotation of the feeding devices. The spur gear 8 is of the same diameter as the spur gears 8', so that the shaft 6 rotates at the same speed as the shafts 6.

The feeding devices may be driven by means of gearing (not shown) in mesh with a spur gear 9 secured to the central shaft 6.

It will be observed that the diameter of the central feeding device is larger than the diamet'er of a lateral feeding device, the ratio being preferably such thatthe area of the circle swept out by one of the blades 5, will be twice the area of the circle swept out by one of the blades 5'. As will be seen in Fig. 2 the inner surface of the container f bottom is made with three longitudinal channels 1' and- 1" respectively, forming of the shafts 6,6, the tips of the blades 5 and 5 pass quite close to the walls of said channels 1', 1". It will be understood that the .area or rather volume of the channel 1' is-larger than that of either channel'l",

that tolsay, about twice as la g corresponding to the relationbetween the diameters of the central and lateral/feeding devices.

The particular feeding device consisting of a shaft with propeller blades, only one of which is in the same plane of rotation, is

especially adapted for the thorough mixing and simultaneous drying of materials, it being understood that in such cases, the jacket 2 is supplied with a heating agent. lVe do not, however, wish to restrict ourselves to this particular form of feeding device, and we might in some cases employ conveyer screws of the Well known type, or other forms of feeding devices, depending upon the particular operation to be performed, that is to say, certain types of feeding devices would be particularly suitable for the performance ofa mixing operation, other types would be especially adapted for drying purposes, while still other types, like the one shown, are adapted for the simulta- 115513 performance of both operations.

The apparatus is supported in any suitable way, for instance by means of legs or saddles -l resting on a suitable base 10. For the purpose of removingthe material after treatment, we may provide bottom of the container with a suitable opening normally closed by a plug 11, operatee lever mechanism 12 or in any other suitable manner.

The material to be treated, having been. placed within the container, and the latter closed if desired to exclude the surrounding air. the feeding devices are set in motion and if conditions require, a heating or a coollng agent is circulated through the jarnet so as to keep the material at the proper consistency. The central feeding device will rotate in one direction, say as indicatedby the arrow E in Fig. 2, and the lateral feed-- ing devices will rotate in the opposite direction, as indicated by the arrows D and F. Inasmuch as the pitch of the three feeding devices is in the same direction (see Fig. 1) it follows that the material in the container will be caused to travel lengthwise thereof in one direction by the central feeding device, as indicated by the arrow B in Fig. 1, and in the opposite direction, along the side walls of the container, by the lateral feeding devices, as indicated by the arrows A and i (l. The material will therefore travel, say,

first forward and adjacent to the sidewalls of the container, in the channels 1", and.

then rearward, in and adjacent to the central channel 1', circulating through this path as long as the shafts are rotating, and as long as the outlet is closed. If the outlet is opened and the rotation of the shafts continned, the material will be gradually fed struction, when used as a mixer, we obtain readily a positive, uniform mixture of the materials under treatment. If the apparatus is used simply for drying a moist sub stance, or a mixture of moist substances, we obtain a thorough dissipation of the moisture contained in the substance or substances. These two operations may be performed either separately (and successively,

if desired), or at the same time, and in either case the interior of the apparatus may be open or closed to the surrounding air, and if closed, it may be under pressure or under a vacuum, as conditions may warrant.

While we have described a preferred and satisfactory embodiment of our invention, it is obvious that changes may be made therein within the spirit and scope thereof. as defined in the appended claims.

We claim:

1. An apparatus of the character described comprising a container having a bottom provided with a central longitudinal areshaped channel and channels disposed parallel therewith on opposite sides thereof, a rotary shaft carrying spiral blades disposed over said central channel and rotary shafts carrying spiral blades disposed over said side channels, and means for rotating said central shaft in a direction opposite to the rotation of the said side shafts, the path of the blades of the central shaftinterlappingwith the paths of the blades of the side shafts.

2. An apparatus of the character described comprising a container having a bottom provided with a central longitudinal aroshaped channel and smaller channels disposed parallel therewith at a higher elevation on opposite sides thereof, a rotary shaft carrying spiral blades disposed over said central channel and rotary shafts carrying smaller spiral blades disposed over said smaller channels, and means for rotating said central shaft in a direction opposite to the rotation of the said side shafts, the path of the blades of the central shaft interlapping with the paths of the blades of the side shafts.

In testimony that we claim the foregoing as our invention, we have signed our names in presence of two subscribing witnesses- HUDSON H. BUBAR. CECIL J.. BEUST. Witnesses:

CHAS. P. THORNTON, KATHERINE BUBAR. 

